Sunday, March 27, 2016

Beware of Millions of Dangerous Immigrants

Some Germans assimilated quickly. Others, like German Catholics and Lutherans, believed that the preservation of their faith depended on maintaining German language and culture. They also believed that German culture could be infused to American culture and improve it. To that end, the churches operated their own schools, and German-American communities published newspapers in German...Anglo-Saxons had their own definition of what was “American”, and anything that did not conform was an undesirable deviation, perhaps even dangerous. And they were having trouble understanding why German-Americans would not willingly give up their German culture. After all, had they not deserted Germany for a better land? To them, German-Americans were naturally clannish and arrogant. Especially troublesome were the numerous German-American festivals; where dancing and beer-drinking was commonplace, even on the Sabbath.

Native-born Americans invented a term to describe this deviation—“hyphenism.” Whereas the term “German-American” (or “Irish-American”) had for decades referred simply to specific ethnic identities in American society, under Anglo-Saxon nativism they became insults, implying that these ethnic groups were not “100% Americans”. The implication was that if you were a hyphenated American, you were not a true American. In keeping with the pseudo-science of the times, nativists even came to believe that these social characteristics were hereditary—passed down through genetics.

and things got worse when World War I started:

Many Americans were fearful of German-American citizens' loyalties to the German Empire. Theodore Roosevelt, in particular, denounced "hyphenated Americanism" in wartime.

Many German-named food and streets were renamed. For example, Berlin, Michigan became Marne, Michigan, frankfurters became hot dogs, and sauerkraut became liberty cabbage.

The German language was restricted in the midst of anti-German fears. Nebraska and Iowa both passed laws limiting the speaking of German in schools and other public places.

In 1917, President Wilson passed two pieces of legislation that imposed restriction on German-born Americans. The U.S. government attempted to keep a list of all German-born aliens or citizens, and imprisoned more than 4,000 from 1917-1918 for allegedly assisting the German war effort.

Family legends tell of cops coming to the house after a neighbor complained there was a meeting of enemy Germans going on...it was my grandfather and his friends singing German songs from the old country, something they did often in those days before Radio and TV.

The House of Windsor came into being in 1917, when the name was adopted as the British Royal Family's official name by a proclamation of King George V, replacing the historic name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.